How do you expert guys plan routes?
So far, I've done only 2 official bikepack trips (and plenty of day trips with lots of gear, plus backpacking car cam,ping etc). So I definitely consider myself a newbie, but learning fast.
On my last route, I planned the initial sketch using google maps. Then I exported this to a GPX file:
http://www.elsewhere.org/journal/gmaptogpx/Once I had the GPX file, I loaded this up on mapmyride. From there, I got a rough sketch, and I use their "snap to roads" feature to convert the lat/longs to actual roads and trails. From there, mapmyride lets me move the route around on the map and it will snap to nearby trails. Pretty cool, got myself a route.
However, the route quickly becomes a rough sketch because once you are out there, you figure out quickly that certain sections might be better on road, or fire road, than singletrack. I've found that anything worse than a cat3 climb will be a slaughter carrying all my gear and walking over rough sections. So I try to avoid anything serious climbing on singletrack. I'm finding that using this method, I still end up with climbs that require a lot of pushing.
What would be great to learn was if you guys had a rule of thumb that you use. Examples:
1) "Never try to climb more than X miles on a certain grade unless it's on a road"
2) "Don't try to do cat2 or cat1 if it's on gravely road"
I also have no sense of grade and what's doable.
Etc.
Ideally, I'd scout out and ride all these routes first on my mountain bike. But I don't always have time to do this, plus, I prefer to ride the gnarlier stuff when I'm on my MTB. I suspect that I'd find a lot of my bikepacking routes kinda boring.
I also recognize part of the fun is finding/suffering through the gnarly stuff. Cool by me, but I think I could ride a lot further if I wasn't doing so much weight lifting on the trail. Choosing a good, doable route would allow me to go further each day.
So any insights you experts have would be great.
Tools, advise, etc.
